For the first Hungarian round of the World SBK Since 1990, the 4,075 km Balaton Park circuit has been bathed in sunshine with temperatures reaching 33°C, while Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) set the tone at the end of this first day of Superbike.
The Briton set a time of 1'39.528, setting the benchmark in Superbike. The Englishman beat Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) by two tenths of a second. The reigning world champion set the fastest time in the first free practice session, but was visibly frustrated in the afternoon after going off track at Turns 9 and 15 at different times.
Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) and Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) had an encouraging start to the weekend. The Italian set the third fastest time, four tenths slower than Razgatlioglu, while the Spaniard finished fourth. The Honda rider crashed at Turn 10 but still completed 35 laps.
Nicholas Bulega, currently second in the World Championship standings, finished the day eighth. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team struggled in the heavy braking zones characteristic of the Hungarian circuit. His teammate, Alvaro Bautista, set the sixth fastest time, but neither driver was able to improve on their time from Free Practice 1.
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) topped the Yamaha standings. The Australian, whose contract extension with Yamaha was confirmed yesterday, set his fastest time on his final lap of the day. He was the only Yamaha YZF R1 rider to finish in the top 10 overall.
P1 – Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team): “I’m really happy to be here in Hungary and I really enjoyed the circuit. We rode here on a practice bike recently, but it’s always different in Superbike. Overall, it was a positive day. The second free practice session was much hotter, but I still had a good feeling. In the morning, I managed to maintain consistent lap times, and in the second session, I started the session with a longer stint. The improved lap time was more due to the tire change at the end than a more intense attack. I improved in the second sector during the day, but I still need to improve in the fourth. I need to refine my braking before the last chicane. Overall, it’s a very enjoyable and quite complex circuit. There are many places where you can gain or lose time.”
P2 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team): “The feeling is good because it’s a new circuit and we got off to a good start. We had a great race simulation and our pace seems solid. The circuit suits my style, especially for hard braking. We tried one tire, but didn’t have time to test the other, so we still need to determine which one is best. It will be important to choose the right tire for the race. It’s a very important race, I want to win here. My main goal is to achieve another hat-trick. We started well and if we continue to improve the bike, I think we can become even stronger.”
P3 – Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven): “I think we have good potential. We did some important work in the afternoon session. I think we can still improve in some areas, in small steps. I tried to explain clearly to the team what I needed. It's not about stressing or going crazy. Honestly, it was one of our best Fridays of the year, which is important for us because we've struggled a lot this year. We've started to get our feeling back and put things in place properly. It was a good start today, and it's really encouraging.”
P8 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): “Honestly, I didn't have a very good feeling with the bike today. We struggled a bit, especially with braking, and this track has a lot of hard braking zones. So we'll have to adjust the settings for tomorrow and try something different. I think if we improve the braking, the rest will follow. That's the main goal for tomorrow: to improve in that area and we'll see.”
